How to Score Quality Thrifted Books

I love reading. Ever since I was a kid, cozying up in my room on the weekend with a book for hours was my idea of fun. In this hectic, face paced world, sitting down with a good book is a wonderful break from all the noise. The thing is, books can be a costly past time.

Last year I discovered my local Salvation Army Thrift Store had an upstairs, FULL of books! I was in heaven. So many genres to choose from and most of them were in very good condition. I have found with thrifted books, majority of them are gifts that are never read or maybe read once so the wear and tear is minimal.

Like clothing, I think it could be very easy to collect a lot of books. Mark and I have a small bookshelf in our office and the rule is we each have a shelf, if I buy more books I donate others or read what I’ve bought and donate it back. It’s a pretty good system that helps keep down the clutter and also forces me to be conscious of what books I want to keep.

My favorite thrifted book recently is yearly abundance book. Each day it has a different quote and write up, it’s been a wonderful way to bring in the new year. There are some great gems when you’re thrifting books! You might find one you never knew you needed!

3 Tips to Finding Good Thrifted Books:

1. Have an idea of the genre or style or author of book you are looking for. This makes the search a lot easier and will most likely be happy with your finds.

2. Don’t buy books simply because they are inexpensive. It’s easy to see brand new books and think, oh it’s only 99 cents, I should get it, but if it is not a book you are going to read, it can add clutter to your space.

3. When you find a book or author you are interested in, make sure to flip through the book to make sure the quality is nice. I personally don’t like secondhand books with someone else’s writing, so I always look for that.

As it turns out the Salvation Army Thrift Store has a sale this Friday and Saturday which includes 50% off books! Now paperbacks are 50 cents and hard covers are only $1.50! As with thrifting for clothes go in with a plan! The last time I was looking for books I wanted easy reads I could pick up over the holidays and I easily found a couple. I like making a plan because I always leave with something, if I don’t have a plan I’m not looking for anything specific and can leave empty handed.

Let me know if you find any great books at the sale or your favorite thrifted book below!